Ch 13

Asami's POV

One month. 4 weeks. That is how long Fumi and Haruna had been going out. Four weeks that Asami had attempted to break them apart. Four weeks of breaking in on every conversation they had, of sitting between them, of subtly putting down Haruna in front of Fumi. Nothing worked and it was really bringing Asami down.

Asami wasn't prepared to feel the hurt she did every time she saw Fumi and Haruna smiling and laughing with each other. Or the way Fumi sometimes held hands with Haruna in the school corridor. She really couldn't stand the way her heart clenched with jealousy at the sight of them.

Asami glanced at her brother, who sat next to her on the lunch table. Her teacher had wanted to talk to her after class so it had made her late to lunch. This meant that she wasn't able to sit between Haruna and Fumi so now the pair of them sat together, talking excitedly to each other.

Yoh was avoiding looking at the pair across from them, never leaving his gaze from his food. Asami took note of the way his eyes were slightly scrunched together. Yoh had finally decided to have lunch with the group again after the sports festival. Asami knew it was because Yoh now didn't have a valid excuse to not sit with them anymore. Stupid Yoh, Asami thought. If he is hurting, he should have just agreed to help me break them up!

"...date?"

Asami's head snapped back forward at that word, tuning in to Haruna and Fumi's conversation.

"Yes!" Fumi responded. "It sounds like fun, lets go!"

"Where are you guys going?" Asami asked nonchalantly, trying not to show how desperately she wanted to know what they meant by "date".

"We are going to the beach! Our one month anniversary is coming up and we wanted to celebrate it, so we decided to go there for our date," Haruna responded, with a huge smile on her face.

Asami's heart dropped. She knew that she just couldn't invite herself to their date like she did last time. Asami still tried her best to.

"You are going to the beach?! But it's November, you can't even swim," Asami said scoffingly.

"That's true," Fumi responded, "but there are a lot of more stuff we can do at the beach, right Haruna?"

"Yeah!" Haruna replied, bopping her head up and down.

Before Asami could come out with any more excuses for them not to go, Yoh's voice broke in.

"Congratulations for your one month. I hope you guys have fun at your date."

"Thanks,Yoh! We will," Fumi replied as he wrapped his arm around Haruna's shoulder. Asami started seeing red, but she tried to calm herself down by clenching her fists, letting the pain of her fingernails pressing on her skin bring her back to control. Now with her mind somewhat clear, she was able to take note of something that she had missed earlier.

After Yoh had congratulated them, Haruna's eyes had indefinitely softened once her attention had shifted to Yoh. Asami noticed the tenderness that she saw enveloped Haruna's eyes -a tenderness that Asami had never noticed Haruna direct towards Fumi in the one month that they were together- as Haruna gazed at Yoh. Unfortunately for Asami, both Yoh and Fumi seemed to be oblivious to this, as they both soon engaged in a conversation about the upcoming exams.

Asami wanted to stomp her foot. If only the idiot of her brother would just work with her, then Fumi and Haruna would have broken up within a week instead of dragging for who knows how long. Asami could clearly see that there was something going on between her brother and Haruna but it was taking too damn long for it to rear its head and become useful.

Whatever. I'll just do it myself. My previous ways of trying to break them up have been useless so I'll just need to up my game. I WILL NOT let their relationship deepen on this new date. Mark my words.

Haruna's POV

It was a chilly day on the day of Haruna and Fumi's second date. They were set to meet at 3 pm in front of the ice cream parlor that was close to the beach. As the wind blew, Haruna cursed herself for choosing to wear a skirt instead of jeans. Her thin cardigan offered no protection from the wind as well, leaving her a shivering mess. Trying to distract herself, she looked down at her phone and was surprised to find that she had a message from Yoh.

Haruna was also caught surprised at the way her heart began to race as she tapped on the message icon.

Have fun on your date today Haruna. Just remember to relax and everything will turn out fine.

Haruna smiled at the message even as a dull pain ran through her heart. What's wrong with me? Haruna asked herself as her hand came up to where her heart was. The dull pain was the same dull pain that she had felt when Yoh had congratulated her for her one month anniversary with Fumi. She didn't know why she was feeling that way or the way her heart ached every time she saw Yoh. Or the way her eyes always followed Yoh whenever he was close by. It almost seemed like she...

Shaking her head at her thoughts, Haruna turned back to her phone, replying a quick thank you to Yoh before stashing her phone back in her pocket. She didn't need distractions today. Today she was going to focus on Fumi and making sure that this date goes better than their first date did. It was their rematch date after all.

Fumi's POV

Fumi was running a bit late in meeting Haruna. He had planned to arrive early to their date but his mother had asked him to run a quick errand before he left. Now he was jogging towards the bus stop, hoping to catch the bus before it left. However, he got distracted when his phone started ringing and he stopped for a second to see who was calling him. That one second cost him and the bus pulled away, leaving him behind.

Sighing, he went to the bus stop and sat down. He fished out of his pocket his cellphone, which was still ringing. He was surprised to see that it was Asami who was calling him.

"Hello Asami! What's up?"

"Fumi? A weak voice, followed by three coughs were heard over the phone.

"Asami, what's wrong?! You don't sound so good," Fumi worriedly replied over the phone.

"Oh, Fumi!" At this, great big sobs were heard. "I don't feel good and my parents went to visit relatives today and Yoh left the house early and left his phone here so I can't reach him at all! I'm feeling dizzy and weak and I am all alone and I'm so scared, Fumi. So scared!"

Fumi felt panicked. He was always weak to Asami's pleads, especially when she cried. Before he even thought about what he was doing, he felt himself running towards Yoh's house.